Creative Motion: An Application of the Use of the Breathing Process in Performance

In a recent meeting of the Doctoral Colloquium of the School of Church Music at Southwestern Seminary, Dr. Robert Smith presented his work in the field of creative motion. Smith addressed the common misperception that in discussing creative motion he would not be addressing movement, but rather using motion as an internal idea. Smith said to define simply, music is nothing but the sound of motion. Creative motion then is coordinating the performer’s inner self to the motion that exists within a piece of music.

The art of playing with creative motion cannot be learned through a series of exercises or rudiments, rather it must be learned through experience and in conjunction with other areas of musicianship. Human thought is characterized by expansion not linearly but in multiple directions with multiple starting points. It is in this non-linear manner that one must be led to discover the energy of creative motion. Although elements of creative motion may overlap with the Alexander method, Feldenkrais, and Dalcroze, it is its own method.

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